THE “ WOLF ” OF THE SEAS.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 August 1926, Page 4

THE “ WOLF ” OF THE SEAS.

COMMERCE RAIDER ROUND NEW ZEALAND IN WAR TIME. HOAV THE WAIR.UNA WAS SUNK.

'lt is often illuminating to see things from tlie other fellow’s point of view, oven though disagreeing with the, view expressed, and when the other fellow happens to be an enemy-—or late enemy—some parts of the story have an added interest. This is the case in the story of the S.M.S. Wolf, the notorious German commerce raider and minelayer, the operations of which during the war caused some concern to the Allies. In the main its operations were in the Southern Honipisphere, and for some time in New Zealand waters, in the course of which the s.s. Wairuna one of the Union Company’s vessels, was captured and sunk on the north coast of the South Island after being stripped of her stores and hunkers. The story was written and published in Germany in 1918 by the skipper of the Wolf, Captain Nerger, and a copy of it was secured in Berlin at tiie end of the war by a New Zealander. A portion of the story, including the sinking of the Wairuna, has boon specially translated from the German text and is as follows : .My orders in distant waters, particularly in the Indian Ocean, proceeds Captain Nerger, were to hnrrass enemy shipping, first of all through sowing mines. Against the superstitious belief of old mariners we left port on a Friday. only to turn back again before we had passed our blockade line on account of a fire having broken out in one of our coal bunkers, and threatened to lake on serious proportions. After the fire had been extinguished wc made a second attempt, and again we wore, forced back, this time through a dense fog, which would have rendered the passage through our own minefields too hazardous. At last, in tly l evening (November 30th, 1916), we managed to get under way. No- salutes were exchanged with our guardsliips. They had, of course, been informed of our coining, but who we were and what our mission was unknown to them. Thi‘ weather was now beautifully clear, and there was no sign of any enemy warship on our way through the North Sea, although a good many of them must have been in the neighbourhood to judge by the strong wireless activities. We were soon within the English blockade lines, and the Wolf was going full speed, which was only ten knots, being heavily overi loaded with provisions for our long voyage. The moment any vessel had sighted us we would have been lost, for even the smallest fishing boat, if fitted with wireless, would have wised the alarm and put an end to our career. We had to trust to good luck, and luck was with us right through. ■ Wo managed to pass through the English blockade quite unobserved, and i on December 10th we reached the open Atlantic. 'file next few days brought no excitement. Although quite a number of - steamers were sighted, I let them ■ pass unmolested. My men, who were unaware of my intentions, were disappointed, and shook their heads disapprovingly. Our AVolf was only an ordinary cargo boat of 6000 tons, although of the very best construction and with powerful engines. She had a complement of .‘159 men. and her guns were equal to any small cruiser. Army principal object was to lay mines in the Southern Hemisphere, I could not at this stage, run the risk of any encounter at all. Even a victorious fight might hare weakened us so much that, without a base, our career as a raider would have come to an end. Wo therefore remained inactive until wo reached the Cape of Good Hope on January 16th, 1917. THE MISCHIEF BEGUN. There our mischief began, and we thoroughly infested the waters all round with mines. Wc were, (however, not allowed to do so entirely undisturbed, for an expeditionary force of seven ships, presumably from Australia. with an armoured cruiser as convoy, appeared on the horizon. To try conclusions with that fellow did not seem advisable, and we moved on with the air of a peaceful trading vessel, turning off a, little, taking care not to arouse suspicion in doing so. All went well. They took no notice of us, and wo were jolly glad to get nut of their

disconcerting lioighboumood. THOUGHT THEY WERE If BOATS. From South Africa wo made for Ceylon. We soon learned of the had effect our mines had on shipping. On January 24th eve intercepted a wireless message from Capetown to the effect that U-boats were active off the Cape. It seemed strange that the English—who are, as a rule, so well informed in naval matters—should have thought that German submarines could have been operating at such i distance from home. But they soor dropped the idea, and began to suspect- ‘neutral ships of sowing mines and even detained neutral captains ir British ports for months, subjecting them to long inquiries. We also heard that the second biggest British liner, the Aquitnnia, with 10,000 Australian troops on hoard, had been lost at the Capo. Prisoners which we subsequently took corroborated t'lio report. What lends it further verisimilitude is the fact that, when asked in the House of Commons regarding this rumour, the Minister for Marine replied that it was inopportune to talk about the matter. About the middle of February we had arrived near Ceylon. It was a very dark night when we were laying our mines here, during which peaceful occupation we were all of a sudden rudely disturbed by a coastal searchlight. Breathless our oyes followed the. light beam which came nearer and nearer, and then we were caught by it. Everything on deck was illuminated and must have been discernible from the shore. For nearly a whole minute this light rested on ns; then it moved slowly on and so did we. DOWN TO DAVY JONES

The next day the Worcestershire, a ship of 7000 tons, ran up. It was explained' that an internal explosion was the cause of the disaster, but when several days later another vessel, the Perseus, of similar size, met the same fate, some other explanation Had to he found, and Indians and foreigners were suspected of placing explosive bombs aboard the- vessels. The crew and passengers of the Perseus nere separated and kept under strict observation. Whatever precautions the authorities took they were unable to prevent further losses, and even several months later the Mongolia met here with her fate. In Bombay also many ships were lost in the same way. Here we-learned per wireless that a minefield had been discovered and that the port was closed. At last they knew the true cause of their losses, and having done all the mining in these parts we intended to do we decided to bestow a little attention to commerce raiding. The first boat we captured strangely enough was the German steamei Gut enfels, which the English had appropriated while lying in port at Alexandria at the outbreak of the war and renamed bet Turritella. I decided not to sink her, and equipped her as an auxiliary mine layer and sent her

to Aden to infest that part with mines, to meet her again later at a certain point. Captain and officers of tho Turritella accepted our invitation to stop wit'll us and soon made themselves at home. The captain express- ' ed his firm belief that our mischief would certainly not last much longer and that in less than a fortnight we would be put out of action. That of course remained to he seen. KILLED BY OWN GUN. j

So I'm- I did not mention the fact ■ that ive carried a flying machine on hoard. Now that we were out to get hold of any ship within our reach .wo began to make use of Woolfchen (Little Wolf) ns we called her, and sent . her up scouting. Two days later the steamer Jumna was sighted on her way to Calcutta. While stopping her we had a serious mishap. As our . signal to stop was disregarded we prepared to fire a shot across her bow. j In loading the gun it backfired with ; disastrous result. Four of our men i wore killed with 24 injured, and eon- ; siderahle material damage was done. But no time was lost in loading another gun, and in less than a minute the shot went off which soon brought the Jumna- to a standstill. Wo took all the coal she had in her hunkers and sank her. Soon after wo received the message that at Aden all ships were advised to keep at a certain distance. No doubt our Turritella had been laying her eggs there. Less pleasing was the next message, which gave an exact description of the Wolf. There was only one explanation. Tho Turritella, with all her original crew (all Lninese by the way) still on hoard, had been captured. This was confirmed later. Our next victim was the Wordsworth, with 7000 tons of rice for London, and then the sailing ship Bee from Mauritius. We really felt sorry for old Captain Bugg, when, leaning against the railing, he watched with tears in his eyes his beloved Bee, on which he had served for 27 years, going to her doom. ENB OF. TFTF WATRTJNA. Through the Indian Ocean we sailed further south and round Australia and south of New Zealand to catch wheat and coal ships. We were in constant need of coal and greatly disappointed to find that the shipping of coal from Australia to South America had ceased on/that route. After lying in those waters for several weeks without having sighted a. single vessel we resumed our journey and sailed northwards round the Antipodes and Bounty Islands to the east of Cook Strait. Here too not a single boat was to be seen. From here wo made for Sunday Island where I intended to have the engines overhauled. Wo anchored off the southeast coast in a small bay surrounded by cliffs ready for all emergencies, - When in the north a. steamer came in sight with its wireless installation clearly visible. Fearing that with its certainly greater speed it might escapo and raise the alarm, I ordered the seaplane to drop a. mailbag on bord the vessel with instructions to head in our direction a.nd not to attempt to make use of Lheir wireless apparatus. Should they ignore these orders tho vessel would he bombed, and to show that wo were in earnest we fired a. shell across its bow. Their

obedience iras touching to see. With-

out delay did they turn as ordered and throw the greater part of their wireless outfit overboard. The vessel turned out to be the New Zealand steamer Wairutin. On account of the sea getting rough we took our prise to a sheltered bight on the north coast, of the island where wo went alongside her, and for two days replenished or coal hunkers from her. She was carrying 1150 tons of coal and was bound from New Zealand to San Francisco. The coal was most welcome, and so was the rest of the cargo, as 350 tons of fresh water, fish, meat, milk and cheese, the quantities of which were astonishing. According to tlie officers of the Wairuna the vessel was intended to. go to England via the Panama Canal, and then to he left, at the disposal cl the British Government. We also found on hoard the vessel a herd of

-10 siieep, which, supplied the crew and the ever-growing number of prisoners for some time witli fresh moat. Some of the prisoners ol the AYai-

runa gave trouble in the beginning, and f saw myself compelled to discipline one of them. Put by and by t.hov calmed own and accepted the new order of things. The AVuiruna proved a very hough boat, and in

addition to bombs placed on hoard we had to use our guns in order to dispatch her. The AA'ai ru on was originally the “ Alntoppo,” and was built in 1901 by Buck nail Bros., being purchased by the Union Shining Company in ]!)().". Tier officers were: Captain H. Saunders; chief officer, Malcolm Mackenzie; chief engineer. A. S. Currie; steward, P. Coleman.